


we're going too fast, fast (save us)

by constellashun



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Angst, Childhood Memories, basically it's just them like. from childhood. to high school. vague and kind of bad. sorry, haha whatever Oops, like one slowtown reference sorry this isn't even super top related bc you could just., or maybe they weren't friends. also tyler is kind of a dick, replace josh n tyler w anyone, they were friends but josh is SALTY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 00:51:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16692223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/constellashun/pseuds/constellashun
Summary: Josh is nine. His face is covered in sticky-sweet syrup and a soggy waffle dangles from his right hand as he leans against his bike. He takes a bite. It's undercooked, but he doesn't mind so much because he gets to hang out with Tyler, the coolest kid in the neighborhood.





	we're going too fast, fast (save us)

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! i just wanted to write lol so this fic might not make much sense (?) first fic! yeet

Josh is nine. His face is covered in sticky-sweet syrup and a soggy waffle dangles from his right hand as he leans against his bike. He takes a bite. It's undercooked, but he doesn't mind so much because he gets to hang out with _Tyler_ , the coolest kid in the neighborhood.

  
Where Josh is soft hands and smooth skin and easy smiles, _Tyler_ is all angles and scratched palms. _Tyler_ puts Pokemon cards in his bicycle to mimic the sound of car engines- Josh thinks this is quite possibly the coolest thing in the world. Tyler rules the basketball court and is the neighborhood record-holder among the kids for the most consecutive shots made.

  
Josh doesn't do much. Mostly he sits at home and plays with his siblings or watches TV. He's not so rebellious. He stays away from Pokemon, and bicycles, and basketball. But Tyler is cool enough that he's willing to try all those things to get closer to him.

  
The sun is beating down on Josh now. The syrup from the waffle is forming a sticky puddle on the ground. He can see the heat waves rising from the basketball court as Tyler dribbles the ball back and forth.

  
“See,” he says, bouncing it effortlessly on the ground, “there's not much to it. It's like- just try to control it. Don't let it get away from you.” Tyler chases the ball around the court while Josh watches earnestly.

  
“That sounds easy enough.” Josh stuffs the last of his waffle into his mouth and wipes his fingers on his shorts- his mom will get mad at him later for it, but Josh desperately wants to seem as uncaring and relaxed as Tyler always does.

  
Tyler smiles – at _him_ , Josh thinks, elated to be noticed by somebody so _cool_ – and passes the ball. “Wanna give it a go?”

  
This is Josh's last good memory of Tyler – happy but carefree, detached but still kind.

  
The two don't talk again until middle school, because they keep getting different teachers in elementary school, but Josh tells himself that he doesn't mind.

  
It's not like they were friends, anyway.

  
But locker assignments come around and Josh is right next to _Tyler Joseph_! Their last names aren't even close- it must be a lucky fluke. Josh's heart beats fast as he imagines them rekindling the friendship they never had, saying hi to each other in the halls. Maybe they'd even play some basketball together, if Tyler is still into that.  
And Tyler is. Tyler is also into ignoring Josh now, apparently. There's not a single greeting the first day they get their lockers, and the same stone-cold disinterest is apparent throughout the year until, one day, Josh has had enough. Also, Josh is a dreamer and has never lost hope in his best friend fantasy.

  
Josh cuts him off in the hall on the way to class.

  
“Hi!” He wiggles his finger in a shy wave. “Um, I'm Josh- I don't know if you remember me, but we were like, kind of friends in fourth grade? You taught me how to play basketball?” He looks at Tyler's face, expectant.

  
It's completely blank. There's not even a hint of recognition. Tyler shrugs, looks awkwardly at the friends flanking either side of him. “Okay. Cool to see you again.”

  
“My locker is next to yours,” Josh continues, but he can feel his face start to burn. “I, um, I just wanted to say hello! Because we used to know each other, and stuff, and maybe we can... we can get together and...” Oh god, his ears are turning red now too. He can feel it. “Maybe we can do that again sometime? Or...” Josh trails off and has to quash the urge to punch himself in the face for making such a fool out of himself. He isn't sure where he was going with this. It wasn't a good idea to begin with.

  
“Yeah. Maybe.” Tyler shrugs again, and then leaves. The bell rings. Josh is left standing alone in the hallway, clutching his binders as hard as possible and blinking back tears.

  
_Yeah. Maybe._

  
The next time they talk is when they're seventeen. It's senior year. Josh is sociable now; he has an easy grin, he's dyed his hair bright blue, he plays the drums in a band he formed with his friends. Sometimes he skateboards to class. Sometimes he doesn't come at all. Bikes and basketball don't scare him anymore and neither does Tyler Joseph.

  
Tyler Joseph. Yeah, he's still a basketball star- but he seems to have retreated into himself. He's quieter. Moodier. Josh thinks he's taken his whole “uncaring, unrelentingly chill” shtick way too far, because it looks like Tyler hasn't been doing any homework and is most likely failing his classes.

  
Josh pretends not to worry. Or care. He thinks that somewhere along the way it evolved into actually not caring.

  
Tyler walks in on him banging away at the drums in the music room one day. It's been a frustrating day- Josh failed his history test, and then he got in an argument with a teacher and got a detention, and now he's stressed because he's skipping detention to go play the drums to unwind and he'll have to make the detention up later. It's a vicious cycle.

  
Tyler doesn't say anything when he sees Josh, expression like he's just eaten a lemon, looking like he's trying to murder the drums. He just walks to the piano in the corner of the room and starts playing to Josh's beat. It's something loud and angry at first, but slows after about a minute or so.

  
Part of Josh is elated. Tyler Joseph is _interacting_ with him! Indirectly! The other part is furious, because how dare he waltz in and just start playing to Josh's frustrations after years of ignoring him? How could he just do that? How could anyone _do_ that?

  
Josh doesn't say anything, just keeps drumming. He speeds up. Tyler quickens the pace of his piano-playing to match. Josh can't place the song he's playing- it doesn't sound like anything he's ever heard on the radio, but it's not bad, either. It's quiet but passionate. Josh first slows down, and then stops playing the drums and just allows himself to soak in the music.

  
Tyler finishes the song and looks up, his lips curling into a small, vaguely hopeful smile. He looks kind of teary, and Josh is reminded of that fateful day in middle school.

  
“Maybe we could do that again sometime?” he asks, and Josh is literally thrown into a state of shock. His eyebrows hit the roof. He feels like somebody has just ripped his heart out and played a game of catch with it, electrocuted it, and then stuffed it haphazardly back into his chest, because did he just ask that? After years of literally ignoring him? One song and suddenly they're friends again? He can feel his anger bubbling up again. Josh wants to take a drumstick to Tyler's head. _The nerve!_

  
But he can't deny that it doesn't feel good, that his heart hasn't missed a beat purely out of rage. Josh can see himself in Tyler now- he was human all along. He can't keep putting people on a pedestal and expecting them to reciprocate.

  
Josh thinks that that doesn't matter and it still doesn't excuse his actions, because he has grown and matured. He deserves better. And he can't help his smile when he shrugs and says, “Yeah. Maybe.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! ik that was kind of pretty bad and weird haha oops


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